


fate's cruelty

by emblems



Series: SASO2016 [11]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 09:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7429205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emblems/pseuds/emblems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Are they from the same junior high? Or are they childhood friends from elementary school?"</p>
  <p>"Oh, no, they just got acquainted recently."</p>
  <p>"How cruel."</p>
</blockquote>Kageyama wonders, sometimes, what his time at Kitagawa Daiichi would have been like if he’d had Hinata with him.
            </blockquote>





	fate's cruelty

**Author's Note:**

> written for saso16, bonus round 2, for [this prompt.](https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/13854.html?thread=4931358#cmt4931358)

_How cruel._  
  
It was. It absolutely was.   
  
Kageyama wonders, sometimes (though he tries not to do so often, because he makes a point of not dwelling on the past, of not casting his eyes back onto things that put a sour taste in his mouth, that make the crown feel heavier on his head and the weight on his shoulders impossible to ignore), what his time at Kitagawa Daiichi would have been like if he’d had Hinata with him.  
  
Would they have been able to accomplish everything they have here, there? Everything they’ve been able to do now, then?   
  
What little of him he has that can be called optimistic likes to think so. He likes to imagine a time in middle school where he had Hinata, to keep him company and to keep him in check, all while keeping pace with him. He imagines not fixating on Oikawa-san as often, too fascinated by the idea of someone capable of hitting his tosses, too captivated by a boy that at times burned brighter than the sun. He imagines forming a bond with Hinata sooner, imagines what that would mean for their high school careers.  
  
Sometimes he even goes further back, thinking about about a life where he always knew Hinata and Hinata always knew him. He wonders, then (and they’re more often dreams, portraying a reality he knows is false but somehow feels no less authentic), what height they would be at, what obstacles they would be able to overcome to be stronger, better, more in sync. What it would be like to have been together for so long.  
  
He treasures that much more than the thought of meeting at Kitagawa Daiichi, because in truth, he’s certain things would have fallen apart then, fallen apart before they started, Hinata swearing off Kageyama like the rest, taking his leave alongside the rest of Kageyama’s classmates. Then, he hadn’t known how to work with others. Then, he hadn’t known how to meet someone halfway, didn’t know that working together led to exponential growth and odds-defying results. Hinata would have walked away, and Kageyama can’t say he would have blamed him.  
  
(The thought of watching Hinata’s retreating back makes Kageyama’s stomach churn. He doesn’t think on it often for that reason.)  
  
He does his damndest to treasure every moment they have now, though. Though they never speak of it aloud, there’s a constant sense of trying to make up for lost time. They do it in the best way they know how: through volleyball, through practicing and playing and talking and focusing on improving their plays as much as possible.  
  
Kageyama wonders, sometimes, what they look like to outsiders, what they look like to those that don’t know that the intensity of their expressions is not frustration but instead the deepest kind of focus. It’s a sort of focus that’s only possible because they mesh together so well.  
  
He’s been casting around for years looking for an opportunity like this, and now that he has it—now that he has Hinata—he doesn’t plan on squandering it. 


End file.
